Echoes in Death

Eve and Roarke are driving home from a party, one that Eve endures but her husband enjoys, when a naked woman wanders into the road. Daphne's in shock. Her husband is found back at their home, dead. This is the beginning of a case about sexual obsession. While Eve gets stronger and stronger, Robb never glosses over her past abuse. This case, where it becomes obvious that Daphne's husband was physically, mentally, and sexually abusive, brings up stuff for her, but it also makes allows her to bond with this victim in a way no one else could. As always, the continued look into Eve's growing world of friends and family delights, but this one is a bit on the darker side.

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: This chilling new suspense novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author J.D. Robb is the perfect entry point into the compelling In Death police procedural series featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

As NY Lt. Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Roarke are driving home, a young woman—dazed, naked, and bloody—suddenly stumbles out in front of their car. Roarke slams on the brakes and Eve springs into action.

Daphne Strazza is rushed to the ER, but it’s too late for her husband Dr. Anthony Strazza. A brilliant orthopedic surgeon, he now lies dead amid the wreckage of his obsessively organized town house, his three safes opened and emptied. Daphne would be a valuable witness, but in her terror show more and shock the only description of the perp she can offer is repeatedly calling him “the devil”...

While it emerges that Dr. Strazza was cold, controlling, and widely disliked, this is one case where the evidence doesn’t point to the spouse. So Eve and her team must get started on the legwork, interviewing everyone from dinner-party guests to professional colleagues to caterers, in a desperate race to answer some crucial questions:

What does the devil look like? And where will he show up next?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: What you signed up for, if you're already a series fan. All the near-future tech feels just as plausible, without the AI paranoia popular now; but as a starting place, it's subideal because it's more about Eve smoothing down her more dramatic expressions of PTSD. She and Roarke, her very high-class husband, are on a case that really could be more exciting in how they pursue it. Oddly, in this case that means less: less violent confrontations, less fraught choice of victims.

I recommend it to those who, like me, bounced off the earlier, ruder Dallas.

St. Martin's Press wants $11.99 for an ebook. Most people seem to love these books, so who am I to say don't? show less

Eve's newest case involves a nasty man who likes to kill couples but not until he beats them and rapes the women. While this case stirs a lot of memories for Eve, you can see how much she's healed from earlier books.

This is an ugly murder case but it's also about healing and recovery. I loved the support systems that came through not only to help the victims but enabled them to help Eve, Rourke, Peabody and the team catch their killer.

Given the violent nature of the murders some scenes may be difficult for sensitive readers.

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Not my favorite book in the series (you can't win 'em all). Too much slow procedural and not enough of my favorite secondary characters such as Peabody and McNabb. The last 75 pages are stronger as the plot quickly ramps up to the climax. Hard to believe I have been reading this series for more than 20 years. I still enjoy it but this book first bored me and then gave me literal nightmares.

While every book in J. D. Robb's In Death series involves at least one chilling and brutal murder, there are some books within the series in which the murders stand out as particularly heinous. ECHOES IN DEATH is one of those books. At first, the murders seem fairly ordinary. The more Eve uncovers, however, the more you realize the depravity at play. The victims don't deserve what happens to them, but it is the murderer who leaves you stunned. ECHOES IN DEATH is one of the rare books where I failed to connect the name with the plot until it was laid right out in front of me. Honestly, this series keeps getting better and better!

Coming home with Roarke after an evening being his wife complete with the fancy dress and killer shoes, Eve Dallas finds herself in a new murder investigation when a naked, disoriented woman stumbles out in front of their car. They rush her to the hospital and then Eve and Roarke go back to see where she came from. There they discover her dead husband.

Daphne Strazza is convinced that she and her husband were attacked by the devil. Her husband was assaulted and she was assaulted and raped. Eve gets vibes that all wasn't right in the Strazza marriage as she interviews Daphne and has flashbacks to her own childhood when she was assaulted and raped by her own father. She has to put her memories aside to find out who assaulted the Strazza's show more and killed Dr. Anthony Strazza.

Her investigation leads to two other cases that were eerily similar. Eve and her team including Peabody and McNab are in a rush to find the criminal before he strikes again since he seems to be escalating the violence each time he attacks.

This was an excellent police procedural as we follow the many threads of the investigation. It was also a wonderful romance as we see the relationship Eve and Roarke have built for themselves. I enjoy the mysteries in these stories but I think I like seeing Eve and Roarke's relationship best of all. I can't wait for their next adventure. show less

Coming home with Roarke after an evening being his wife complete with the fancy dress and killer shoes, Eve Dallas finds herself in a new murder investigation when a naked, disoriented woman stumbles out in front of their car. They rush her to the hospital and then Eve and Roarke go back to see where she came from. There they discover her dead husband.

Daphne Strazza is convinced that she and her husband were attacked by the devil. Her husband was assaulted and she was assaulted and raped. Eve gets vibes that all wasn't right in the Strazza marriage as she interviews Daphne and has flashbacks to her own childhood when she was assaulted and raped by her own father. She has to put her memories aside to find out who assaulted the Strazza's show more and killed Dr. Anthony Strazza.

Her investigation leads to two other cases that were eerily similar. Eve and her team including Peabody and McNab are in a rush to find the criminal before he strikes again since he seems to be escalating the violence each time he attacks.

This was an excellent police procedural as we follow the many threads of the investigation. It was also a wonderful romance as we see the relationship Eve and Roarke have built for themselves. I enjoy the mysteries in these stories but I think I like seeing Eve and Roarke's relationship best of all. I can't wait for their next adventure. show less